Attorney General Barr forms panel on 'anti-government extremism'
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[June 27, 2020]
By Simon Lewis
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attorney General
William Barr on Friday ordered the establishment of a task force to
counter what he called "anti-government extremists" committing violence
as protests against police brutality convulse the United States.
In a memo to law enforcement and prosecutors released by the Department
of Justice, Barr said alleged extremists had "engaged in indefensible
acts of violence designed to undermine public order," including
attacking police officers, damaging property and threatening innocent
people.
Protests have spread nationwide over George Floyd's death in police
custody last month and the deaths of other African Americans at the
hands of police.
Although largely peaceful, some demonstrators have turned violent, which
President Donald Trump and his allies have blamed on left-wing
extremists among the protesters.
Barr said the extremists "profess a variety of ideologies."
"Some pretend to profess a message of freedom and progress, but they are
in fact forces of anarchy, destruction, and coercion,” Barr said.
Barr named the militant anti-government movement known as the "boogaloo,"
as well as the left-wing Antifa as among those posing "continuing
threats of lawlessness".
Antifa is an amorphous movement whose adherents use confrontational
tactics to oppose people or groups they consider authoritarian or
racist.
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U.S. Attorney General William Barr speaks during a roundtable
discussion on "America's seniors" hosted by U.S. President Donald
Trump in the Cabinet Room at the White House in Washington, U.S.,
June 15, 2020. REUTERS/Leah Millis
"Boogaloo" members believe the United States will enter into a
second civil war, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center,
which tracks hate groups. While the ideology itself is not white
supremacist, some white supremacist groups have embraced it, the
Anti-Defamation League has found.
Federal prosecutors filed charges early this month against three
alleged members of the movement accused of plotting to cause
violence and destruction at a Las Vegas protest.
The new task force would be headed by two U.S. attorneys, from Texas
and New Jersey, Barr said.
It would include members from different law enforcement agencies,
but would "particularly draw on the capabilities of the FBI," he
said.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
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